Picture Perfect Platforms

You’ve finally gotten the hang of your camera and have a handful of great shots. Of course, sharing them online is a must for today’s aspiring shutterbugs but where does one start? This month, we introduce our top choices for reaching out to a wider audience.

The main image on the 500px site

Feedback from friends and family is always heartwarming and nice, but constructive criticism from fellow photographers and enthusiasts? Now that's how you really improve your photography skills.

With dozens of online portals and apps ranging from general image sharing sites to niche communities of like-minded people, you're spoilt for choice when it comes to showcasing your work online.

You'll probably want to spend most of your free time actually taking photos, so we've taken the liberty of trawling the Internet for online photography portals that will fit your sharing style.

What we love:

Instagram boasts more than 300 million users, making it one of the largest platforms for your photos. Couple this with choice hashtags and you'll have #instafame within your reach anytime and anywhere.

Both apps have robust communities as well as superb image-editing tools that can enhance your photographs.

For Audience-Seekers – Flickr, EyeEm and Fstoppers

One of the oldest photo sharing communities, Flickr has thousands of Groups where you can dive deep into different aspects of photography.

Flickr, EyeEm and Fstoppers are great places for you to share your photos with fellow photographers. These social and web platforms are frequented by photography enthusiasts all over the world, with Flickr being the oldest and most established.

What we love:

The camera-derie! Each site has a healthy community that's more than willing to give a helpful critique or geek out over gear and techniques.

Knowledge sharing. Fstoppers in particular is great for learning new tricks.

Collaborations with brands and weekly competitions. These features keep you inspired and your finger on the shutter.

For the Ambitious - 500px, Behance, 1X and Visura

500px is a great place to showcase your work and stay inspired.

Connect, share and get hired on Visura.

If you want to take your hobby to another level, 500px, Behance, 1X and Visura are the places to showcase your work. Industry professionals frequent these online spaces, often hoping to find the next big photographer.

What we love:

Networking made easy. Simply sign up for an account, upload your best photos (we do mean your best!) and start rubbing shoulders with talented photographers, editors and curators around the world.

These sites often have curators or guidelines for submissions, ensuring that every photo is of a certain standard.

Sell your work! Some platforms like 500px have features that allow you to sell your photos.

Remember, you can use one or all of these sharing platforms as you start and progress through your journey as a photographer. The most important thing is to always keep snapping!